"Analog bags" are in. Doomscrolling is out.
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
The latest must-have accessory is a "stop-scrolling bag" — a tote packed with analog activities like watercolors and crossword puzzles.
Why it matters: We spend hours glued to our screens. "Analog bags," as they're also called, are one way millennials and Gen Zers are reclaiming that time.
How it works: "I basically just put everything I could grab for instead of my phone into a bag," including knitting, a scrapbook and a Polaroid camera, says Sierra Campbell, the content creator behind the trend.
- The 31-year-old keeps one bag at home in Northern California, carrying it from room to room, and another in her car.
State of play: The trend has quickly spread on social media, part of a bigger shift to unplug.
- Roughly 1,600 TikTok posts were tagged #AnalogLife during the first nine months of 2025 — up over 330% from the same period last year, according to TikTok data shared with Axios.
Custom embroidered L.L. Bean Boat and Totes and canvas lookalikes are especially popular #AnalogBag picks. (That hashtag has around 900 TikTok posts this year so far.)
- Some parents load kid-friendly versions with toys, crayons and coloring books.
The intrigue: Science explains why we keep reaching for our phones — and why carrying something else, even a single book, can help us stop.
- Scrolling, like other habits, is driven by a cue (boredom) and a reward (entertainment), says Charles Duhigg, bestselling author of "The Power of Habit."
- "If we want to change that [habit], we have to … find a new behavior that corresponds to that old cue and delivers something similar to that old reward," he tells Axios.
- Keeping your new habit within arm's reach makes the swap easier.
The big picture: Stop-scrolling bags fit into a broader revival of analog hobbies, led by younger people, that researchers say is less about trendy nostalgia than embracing a pre-digital, pre-AI world.
What we're hearing: "It speaks to an incredible desperation and desire for experiences that return our attention to us, that fight brain-rotting, that are tactile … that involve creating over scrolling," Beth McGroarty, vice president of research at the Global Wellness Institute, tells Axios.
- The nonprofit named "analog wellness" a top trend for 2025.
The bottom line: The "ludicrously capacious bag" just got a wellness rebrand.
